Pages

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

I love cooking dishes of various ethnic cuisines. Doing so adds some fun in our usual meals and it's a great way to appreciate other cultures. Korean cuisine is one I haven't cooked in awhile so tonight we took our tastebuds to the deliciousness of Korean Style Short Ribs...Our favorite Korean dish would have to be Kalbi (or Galbi,) which are short ribs marinated in a sweet soy sauce mixture. The short ribs traditionally used in this dish are sliced thin and crosswise, but for dinner, I used whole beef short ribs. Having made Kalbi using thinly sliced short ribs before, I must say that I prefer whole beef ribs instead. The thick short ribs really absorb the sweet, soy sauce marinade well and with every bite, you can taste it as the meat falls off the bone.

In general, whole short ribs do well when braised over a long period of time until they become tender. What I love about this specific recipe is that it's done in a crockpot so there's no need to watch over this dish... just place it all in your crockpot and let it do it's thing. Before long, your kitchen will be filled with the wonderful aroma of kalbi cooking away. Oh, and no need for any knives either - the beef just falls off the bone and is perfectly tender and flavorful with little effort on your part! I took the original recipe and doubled the measurements for the marinade because I wanted the beef to really absorb the flavors. Below is the recipe as I prepared it...

Mix soy sauce, sugar, oil, vinegar, ginger, garlic and red pepper in a small bowl. Place ribs in a 5-quart slow cooker and pour sauce over. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. Remove ribs from crockpot and serve hot over a bed of rice with a garnish of green onions and sesame seeds.

*Alternately, if you don't have a crockpot/slow cooker, simply place the ribs in a foil lined baking sheet and baking in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1-1/2 hours until cooked through.

27
comments:

Anonymous
said...

What type of soy sauce do you use? I have some medium sweet soy sauce that I want to use. Perhaps I should cut down on the brown sugar.

Anonymous - you're correct in that there is no step for browning the ribs before placing in the crock pot. You can certainly brown if you'd like but in this recipe, all the flavor in the pseudo marinade that it's braised in doesn't make me miss the flavor browning usually imparts. Let me know how it comes out with the browning step - would love to know and perhaps try out myself!

Anonymous - yes, 1 head of garlic! With the amount of soy and other ingredients, the head of garlic is enough to really give a good garlic flavor. It will also sweeten over time in the sauce/juices to balance out flavors. If you feel it's too much for your tastes, you can use less if you prefer.

This was fantastic! I browned the ribs first on all sides with some EVOO before putting them in the crockpot. I deglazed my skillet with the marinade and then poured the marinade into the crockpot. The soy sauce that I use is a bit salty, so I substituted half of the soy sauce amount with water. I cooked the ribs on low for 7 hours, and for the last 1/2 hour, I added thinly sliced carrots and celery. They soaked up the flavor of the sauce, and everything was served over a bed of rice. Even my picky kids loved it!! Thanks for a definite keeper!

I made this today, and the ginger was really powerful.... are you sure it isn't 4 tsps? I see that people have had great success, and am wondering what happened to mine... I even used the Silver Swan Soy Sauce (I am a Filipino and it is the only brand I use) It left a very gingery almost "fake" aftertaste.... I also browned the ribs on both sides to render some of the fat, and it braised for over 5 hours on high, but the meat wasn't tender enough, and the sauce was very fatty.... Any suggestions? I have had Korean Kalbi before when the short ribs are thinly cut flanken-style and grilled quickly over very hot coals, but was looking for a good recipe for the English version of these meaty ribs... anyway, any help would be great.

Anonymous (2/22/2012)- I'm sorry didn't work out as well for you. The amount of ginger in the recipe wasn't adapted from the original measurements and the end result is to have a gingery flavor. Short ribs tend to be a little fatty due to the natural marbling of the meat but shouldn't have been too fatty unless the ribs had excess fat cap attached. Some crockpots/slow cookers may take longer than others so you may have to cook it longer than 5 hours if your ribs didn't come out as tender as you prefer. For me, 4 hours on high worked. Alternately, you could prepare them in a dutch oven and bake (directions are included above at the very bottom of the recipe.)

Anonymous (3/11/2012) - You certainly can use boneless short ribs. You could use the same amount of meat - 5lbs - or if that's too much, halve all the amounts including the meat for 2.5lbs of boneless short ribs. Hope this helps!

I just made this today, we all loved it. My husband is half Korean and this is my first attempt at making Korean food, after 30 years of marriage (shame on me). I used half with bone in, half boneless. I also set meat aside (when it was done) and separated fat to discard, then placed half liquid back in crock pot with meat to keep it warm and moist, while I reduced the other half in small saucepan. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I have passed it along on Pinterest (where I first found it) and facebook....both with links back to your blog. I cooked in crockpot for 8 hours, perfectly tender - falls off the bone and my 19 year old son said it was the tastiest thing he has ever eaten. TJ

You've actually made another Korean dish...separate from Kalbi. This is a dish called Kalbi Jjeem...braised short ribs. You can add big chunks of potato and carrot into the pot...they will soak up the flavor and add more authenticity!